Cost benefit analysis of fisheries management plans

• Published in: Fisheries management and ecology Vol. 8; no. 4-5; pp. 425 - 434
• Main Authors: Changeux, T., Bonnieux, F., Armand, C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01-08-2001
• Subjects: Pisces; France
• ISSN: 0969-997X; 1365-2400
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2400.2001.00270.x

The management of freshwater fisheries in France is generally entrusted to angling associations, which are in turn grouped into departmental federations. These associations, act under State supervision to protect the aquatic environment and develop recreational fisheries. The National Fishing Council has developed a general method for the formulation of departmental fishery management plans. More than half the departments of France have been involved in this programme since 1995. The approach focuses on the potential number of adult wild fish in each homogeneous ecological unit called a 'context'. The cost of any rehabilitation work needed to restore habitat and to place the context under self-sustaining management (called 'patrimonial management') is estimated. Examples of the way in which cost-benefit analysis helps determine the economic viability of management plans are drawn from the Indre and Herault, two departments with contrasting ecological and fishery situations. The analysis takes into account the value of wild fish in relation to stocked fish.